Insane Introduction

sss

Hello and welcome to my guide on my favorite apc, Malzahar! Malzahar is a extremely powerful AP caster, who can take on other carries, bulkier champions, and even tanks.

s

Though like other AP carries his main job is to neutralize the enemy teams carries, Malzahar can fulfill numerous roles in the teamfight. He's capable of suppressing and bursting down practically anyone, which even includes the enemy tank. And without their precious tank, the carries at the back can easily be picked off by the rest of your team.

If none of this manages to convince you of Malzahar's potential, then get him for the some reason I picked him up: Sick Dance Moves

ss

Riot Champion Spotlight:

ss

Professional Pros / Consequential Cons

ss

Amazing nuker

Strong AoE damage

Very good farmer

Excellent harass

Squishy

Vulnerable when abilities are on cooldown

No escape mechanisms

Too good of a lane pusher?

ss

Malevolent Masteries

SPACESPACESPACESPACE

space

Offense Tree

In the Offense tree, you're gonna want to invest all the way like most AP carries. You get a few early AP points, and your late game damage is also buffed a little.

SPACESPACE

space

Utility Tree

The rest of your mastery points should be invested into the Utility Tree for, well, some utility. Summoner's Insight and Mastermind will provide some helpful cooldown on your Summoner abilities, which you desperately need.

ss

Ravaging Runes

s

Runes - First choice

ss

Runes

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration9

Greater Seal of Armor9

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist9

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power3

ss

s

spaaaace

Since our opposition will stack Magic Resistance against you, we have to deal with that asap. Because % magic penetration is applied before flat magic penetration those work really well in combination with a Void Staff. The more flat magic penetration you got, the more effective those items will be, as they get their best effect at lower magic resistance levels. You also need some base AP so that your early game abilities have some much needed extra hitting power.

sssss

Once you leave your lane and team fights begin you need to have armor. These give you that extra defense while you don't have your armor items yet.

Most of the champions we will face in mid lane deal primarily magical damage. In order to trade properly with them, we need those cheap but very effective runes.

Against an AP lane you may consider flat ones to negate the damage early on.

sss

Runes - Second choice

ss

Runes

Greater Seal of Cooldown Reduction9

Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction9

Greater Glyph of Ability Power9

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed3

ss

Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction and Greater Seal of Cooldown Reduction increases your overall damage really well, especially because cooldown reduction is harder to achieve by items than the rest. Still, I prefer additional protection versus magic damage burst without having to rush a magic resistance item. If you want to use them it's probably a good idea to use them with a more tanky build.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power increases your damage both in the early and late game. Since you are scaling decent, this results in better harass and some extra minion kills. Take these instead if your confident about your lane match-up.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed are nearly on pair with the magic penetration ones because mobility is one of the most important stats in this game. The greatest AP doesn't help you if you cannot reach your target.

ss

Super Summoner Spells

ss

In my opinion, Ignite is non-negotiable; it seriously helps me burst down both squishy's and tanks with it's true damage, and nets me around 1-3 kills a game I couldn't otherwise have had.

Flash can be really helpful for closing the distance to a target, or putting some between you and the enemy. You can also flash over certain walls with it, which is incredibly helpful.

If your worried about carries bursting you down, take this. Ghost can get you out of many situatons. It's also very useful for escaping or catching up to a enemy.

Incredible Items: Early and Core

s

Starting Items

space

space

Because of the changes to Boots of Speed in S3 it is no longer the best start to take especially on champions that use a lot of mana. The Crystalline Flask is a very cost efficient item, as it gives you a total of 360 hp and 180 mana, and is refilled whenever you go back to your fountain. Then I go with 1 Health Potion for some sustain in lane and finally I buy one Sight Ward to protect myself from any early ganks.

space

sight ward

-

space

Starting 7 Health Potions and 2 Mana Potions will provide the sustain you'll need in lane. To go along with that you can take 2 Sight Wards to protect yourself from ganks. Since being in mid you are very vulnerable to ganks in numerous locations; having wards at the start will greatly help in staying alive.

space

s

space

Though it was the norm in S2, this combo has fallen out of favour due to the movement speed nerf. Nonetheless, this start is still viable if you're against a opponent that utilizes skill-shots or to help with poking enemies and avoiding delayed skills.

space

ssss

Early Game

s

space

On your first trip back to base pick up Boots of Speed if you didn't start with them to increase your movement speed, which greatly helps with dodging skillshots and escaping ganks. If you're doing bad during laning, get these and 1-2 Doran's Ring at the same time.

space

space

s

space

This item gives you even more early magic pen as well as a little bit of ability power and 200 health making you harder to kill. This is a great overall early item for APs especially since it builds into a Liandry's Torment.

space

s

space

Chalice of Harmony offers you some much needed mana regen, allowing you to use your spells much more freely; however, this doesn't mean you should constantly spam them and end up pushing your lane! It also gives you a little MR to help with trades or poking with your lane opponent. It can be either sold or built into a Athene's Unholy Grail late game.

space

s

space

These synergize extremely well to your Greater Mark of Magic Penetration to help you penetrate the base magic resist of most champions. These boots aren't the standard AP carry ones for nothing. Late game, you can replace these with Mercury's Treads after you purchase your Void Staff as it's added damage will be negligible.

space

sss

Core Items

s

space

With your main early game power and regen bought it is time to add some much needed CC and more health to your kit. Rylai's Crystal Scepter is the item to do that. It provides a 15% slow to enemy movement speed for all AoE and over-time spell damage done to the target(s). While this might not sound like a lot, it's still quite helpful and it will really combo well with your Liandry's Torment.

space

s

space

This is should be built after getting Rylai's Crystal Scepter. This item gives you some more ability power as well as everything that Haunting Guise gave you. It also has a passive that will cause targets to have 6% of their current health done as damage to them over 3 seconds. It becomes 12% if the target is slowed. The slow from Rylai's Crystal Scepter will proc the 12% and between that, your Null Zone and Ignite, you shouldn't have any issues moping up fights.

space

s

space

After Rylai's Crystal Scepter you should go and purchase your Rabadon's Deathcap. This item grants 120 Ability Power and then has a passive that will increase all of your ability power by 30%. With a Rabadon's Deathcap in your arsenal you should be able to quickly burst down the carries and devastate in teamfights. Best part is that the passive will still apply to any more AP items that you buy.

space

ss

Incredible Items: Late Game

-

Pick 2 of these items to finish off your build

__

Deathfire Grasp
This item is really helpful, especially if you're having trouble with a offtank like Lee Sin or Olaf. All their health will amplify it's actives damage, and your spells will also do increased damage to them, so remember to use its active first in a fight. Also, you can use it's active in conjunction with Nether Grasp.

__

Zhonya's Hourglass
Grants a huge amount of ap, and the armour is a nice touch. The active, which makes you completely immune to damage at the cost of being unable to move, can often determine whether or not you die in a fight. Really useful for diving into a group of enemy champions, bursting down their carry, then just chilling while your team-mates mop up the rest of their team.

__

Abyssal Mask
Gives a good amount of ap and some helpful magic resist, which can be really useful against another ap caster. The magic resist debuff is very useful for bursting down squishy's or getting through tanks. Sell this item late game for a Void Staff if the other team is heavily stacking magic resist.

__

Mejai's Soulstealer: If you had a strong early game, pick up this item to snowball exponentially more. Be careful though; this item could potentially backfire on you easily.

__

Void Staff
As stated earlier, a good late game item if the the majority of the enemy team has over 100 magic resist.

__

Athene's Unholy Grail
The predecessor to this item, Chalice of Harmony, greatly helps with laning against another ap caster. This item basically gives you infinite sustain; even with your rather high mana costs, you can pretty much cast your spells all day.

__

Guardian Angel
A excellent buy if you find that you're getting heavily focused in teamfights, or can't get your full combo off on the enemy team's carry.

__

Rod of Ages
A viable alternative to Rylai's Crystal Scepter, it gives you a large amount of health, mana, and AP. It's secondary passive also greatly helps sustain you during laning.

__

Banshee's Veil
This item is great when you are looking to counter combo based spell casters. Examples would be Brand, Xerath, and Morgana. Also, if they have an annoyingly large amount of CC this would be a good time to buy.

Fastidious Farming

s

Farming on Malzahar is incredibly easy. Your Voidling helps with securing low health minions, even when you can't safely hit them yourself, and Malefic Visions lets you destroy entire waves of minions with simply one cast. Don't spam Malefic Visionswhile farming, you will go oom very quickly! Instead, cast it once after you've used 3 abilities, and then keep it going with your Voidling. However, don't over push your lane this way, because you'll quickly find yourself at the enemy tower, with a imminent gank likely approaching.

What you should mostly do is just last hit minions, then when they've bunched up, throw in a Malefic Visions and push the wave, then back off and last hit, wait for minions to bunch up, and keep repeating that process. You shouldn't try to directly cast your Malefic Visions on enemy champions alone; instead, use it primarily to kill minions. If your next cast will activate Summon Voidling, then cast Malefic Visions either on a low health minion next to your opponent or even directly onto them for effective harass.

Here's some examples of how to effictively harass:

-

So, how do I know if i'm doing ok on CS?

Good question, here is some time frames for you to see if your keeping up on CS.

10 minutes

You should have 50-75 CS by now

15 minutes

You should have 100-125 (if you're just farming like a boss you can hit 150, but this is rather unlikely as you will miss some while harassing/running from a gank/ganking)

20 minutes

By now you can be around 175 CS, and at 25 if you stayed in lane long enough hiting 200+CS will be no big deal.

Remember that this CS is only obtainable if the enemy mid isn't letting you kill them all game or you aren't being ganked. In a lot of ranked games you will end just farming by your side of the lane, as all mids are fearful of ganks. In a lot of normal games you may end up having 3 or so kills but being behind around 50 CS. Just add 15 CS for every kill you have. That is your total CS.

ss

Tenacious Teamfights

s

After you hit lvl 7 - 8 it is time to start either pushing or ganking. If at all possible, ask your jungler for Blue buff. If you're doing well, and are confident that you'll continue to do so, consider picking up a Mejai's Soulstealer. If you have any spare gold, pick up some wards.

As Malzahar, your job in team fights to lay down a lot of damage early on and neutralize their carry with your ultimate. Due to the fact you have extremely high burst, you should be focusing a squishier guy like Ashe, Caitlyn, LeBlanc, and Veigar. Your ultimate should be saved for when you see a carry or high priority target grossly out of position or exposed. Remember, your ult immobilizes you also, which makes you a very easy target!

REMEMBER THAT POSITIONING IS KEY

You must be near enough to the team fight to deal damage but far back enough to not be focused or exposed when using your ult. Remember to stay in the back and cast safely from a distance.

You may not always be able to pull off your full damage on only one carry, so don't be afraid to try and hurt a support or someone squisher at the front. By the later stages of the game, you should play extra cautious and always be on the lookout. Stay at the back of your team and focus the enemy carry, or the person you think deals the biggest amount of dmg.

If the enemies backline is too well protected, stay back and focus down whoever jumps in. Sometimes it's better to just focus down whoever is closest as a team than to just blindly jump onto the enemy backline, though if their carry shows up, by all means focus them instead.

DON'T CHASE! You'll cut off a huge amount of your teams overall damage, expose yourself, and more than likely lose the fight/get killed. Let them go, your team fight is more important than the life of one dude.

Try not to fight when they have baron! The buff is really powerful and only unless you have to or are in a 5v3 situation, DO NOT ENGAGE OTHERWISE!

YOU ARE NOT THE TANK! Do not engage! Too many times I have seen people wandering in the front of their team, only to be jumped. A good rule of thumb is to stay a little behind your tank or support, depending on who they are. This way you won't get caught and can get right into the upcoming fight.

TL;DR

SPACESPACE

spacess

Magnificent Mid Lane Match Up's A-G

ss

Blue Indicates an easy difficulty champion.

Orange Indicates an average difficulty champion.

Red Indicates a hard difficulty champion.

ssss

Ahri

Ahri

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Ahri is a champ with a combo reliant kit. She relies mostly on landing her Charm to achieve her high burst damage, so stay behind minions. This matchup is not too hard, but it will all come down to the player skills. You should try to farm the most you can and have your jungler gank as much as possible, because you are not going to get many kills in your lane. After level 6 Ahri gains high mobility through her ultimate, Spirit Rush.

ssss

Akali

Akali

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Akali is a high-burst, high mobility champion. This lane match-up need's to be played very aggressively. You cannot let her free farm, try to zone her with Call of the Void and punish her every time she approaches to last hit. After level 6 when she has her Shadow Dance, she gets the high mobility she needs to make your life miserable, so take advantage before she reaches level 6 and use that in your favour to get ahead. After level 6 play cautious and wait for the right moment to strike.

ssss

Anivia

Anivia

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Anivia's one weakness is that she has to slow you before she can do any real damage. Before she hits 6 her ability to combo is horrible. Punish her for this, but don't try to kill her. Unless she is asking for it, passively farm. Due to her passive, Rebirth killing her is a real pain in the ***, as you have to do it twice. Try to always be in lane after 6 as she can push it really hard with her Glacial Storm. AVOID HER Flash Frost, IT'S EASY BUT IT HURTS WHEN SHE HITS YOU!

ssss

Annie

Annie

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Annie tends to try and bully you out of the lane, so just "let" her do it for a while. However, every time she gets close, hit her with your Malefic Visions and Call of the Void then run back. Eventually she will have to stop doing this because she is simply losing these trades. Now all that is left to do is out farm her and not over extend. After level six, be extra careful around her when she has Pyromania up; she can easily stun you with it by using Summon: Tibbers. If you do get stunned by her, don't panic. Her range is rather bad, so if you Flash she won't be able to hit you again.

ssss

Brand

Brand

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Brand can be a rather easy lane, but don't underestimate him. The key thing to beating him is to harass him after he uses Pillar of Flame and Conflagration on the minion wave (this is his farm combo). After he does this, he can't really fight back, which is why you go after him. Also, if you are always moving while fighting him he will have a higher chance of missing his Sear and Pillar of Flame. Running side to side instead of up and down will throw him off as well. Also, don't bunch up with your team when fighting him, as his Pyroclasm will melt your face off if it's allowed to bounce around!

ssss

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Cassiopeia is a force to be reckoned with. She has very good CSing and spamming. Her Twin Fang spam is devastating and Petrifying Gaze gives her a almost guaranteed kill if she lands it. Her Noxious Blast gives her a speed up, so she can use this to run right at you to slow and kill you. My best advice is to avoid being hit by her Noxious Blast at all costs, and let her push the minions to your tower so you can CS safely. If you do get into a fight, try to suppress her immediately with Nether Grasp and/or turn around about 1.5 second into fight. She will probably miss her stun because of this, and now she is in trouble. Remember, dodge Noxious Blast and Petrifying Gaze and you're golden.

ssss

Diana

Diana

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Diana can be a medium to major problem depending on how you deal with her. Traditionally built as a tanky ap assassin, she can dish it out while still soaking up a surprising large amount of punishment. She also has huge snowball potential. During laning, you'll want to play it safe; her Crescent Strike can be used to quickly clear a minion wave or harass from afar, and her Pale Cascade can negate your Malefic Visions if they jump to her. Once she unlocks her Lunar Rush, try very hard to avoid her Crescent Strike because if she hits you with it she'll be able to cast Lunar Rush twice on you. One thing to keep in mind is that while Diana has amazing chase potential, she doesn't have many escape mechanisms. If she does focus you, a well timed Nether Grasp, especially under your turret, can mess up her whole combo and allow you to punish her in turn.

ssss

Ezreal

Ezreal

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Better suited as a adc bot, Ezreal occasionally appears in mid as a ap carry. This should be a fairly easy lane since shutting down squishy carries is your job. He will constantly try to snipe you with his Mystic Shot, so just chill behind your minions or ran around hectically. If he manages to burst you down, be extra careful when recalling as he will most likely use Trueshot Barrage to snipe you. If you try to go in for the kill, you have to silence him with Call of the Void first and then burst him down quickly, as his Arcane Shift and Flash allow him to cover large distances very quickly.

ssss

Elise

Elise

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Elise can be either rather easy or problematic depending on how you deal with her. Most of her laning power comes from harassing you with her Neurotoxin and when your below 50% health, with her Venomous Bite. The biggest advantage you have over her is that your abilities far out range her's, so use this to your advantage. After she's got several levels, she can basically 100-0 you if she can catch you with her Cocoon, so always stay behind minions. Another thing to keep in mind is that her Rappel has a fairly large range, but a equally long cooldown. Without her Cocoon / Rappel, she has no escape mechanisms so always alert your jungler to this.

ssss

Fiddlesticks

Fiddlesticks

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Fiddlesticks can be pretty annoying mid. His silence from Dark Wind is killer, and God forbid you get caught in his Crowstorm. Most Fiddles max their Drain and Terrify first, so the silence doesn't last long. Just let him fear drain and silence you, but after the fear land your Call of the Void on him. This will break the cast of Drain, and at this point you can just eat him. Don't try and out DPS his Drain, YOU WILL LOSE. If you see him casting Crowstorm you can interrupt it with Call of the Void, which will stop it and reset it's cooldown. A real pisser if you are fiddlestick =D.

ssss

Fizz

Fizz

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

This is a very hard and very annoying lane match-up. His Playful / Trickster can be used to dodge all of your abilities, which can be extremely annoying. Fizz is an assassin, and therefore he is very weak at pushing a lane, meaning you tremendously outclass him in terms of farming potential, so what I would recommend is warding both sides of your river and keeping Fizz pushed as much as possible, then call in your jungler. If he hits you with Chum the Waters's, wait until he casts Playful / Trickster, then melt his face with your combo.

ssss

Gragas

Gragas

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

In theory, Gragas is a morbidly obese hill-billy with a serious drinking problem (remember kids, alcohol destroys families), which should equate into a easy lane, though practice is often different from theory. He has a potentially high damage output, but 3 of his abilities are all skill shots. Dodge his annoying Barrel Roll and you should be all-right for the most part. Try to land a Call of the Void on him, otherwise just farm and dodge. After level 6 when he unlocks his Explosive Cask his damage output hugely escalates. If he manages to land a full combo, you'll be seeing a grey screen for a little bit.

ss

Magnificent Mid Lane Match Up's H-N

ss

Karthus

Karthus

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Karthus can be really annoying, he's going try to zone you with his Lay Waste and the worst thing is, he won't even run out of mana because it costs almost nothing and his Defile grants him mana regen everytime he kills something. That won't make it a hard lane, you are just going to need to be paying more attention to it. Try to zone him with your Call of the Void and Malefic Visions, but otherwise just farm and run "around" to avoid his Lay Waste. Go for the kill whenever the chance presents itself, though keep in mind that you can't have low HP when you go in for the kill or he will kill you with his Death Defied and Requiem.

ssss

Kassadin

Kassadin

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for the one, the only, the original ANTI-MAGE! Kassadin is the ban of most ap carries, and your no exception. He's weaker than you earlier game, so use this to your advantage. Deny him as much farm as possible, and try to get your jungler to gank him before level six. Once he unlocks Riftwalk your life can become a living nightmare. Virtually any gank is rendered useless, and you'll have a slim chance of getting away from or catching him.

ssss

Katarina

Katarina

sinister steel

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Katarina shouldn't be too horrible. Shunpo will make it hard to land Call of the Void, so it's better to harass her with your Malefic Visions. Her daggers hurt, and she has no mana so she can spam pretty much all day. Try and bait her into fighting you. If she does use her jump on you, you will win. If she walks up to you, then don't full combo her. Fight her when her Shunpo is down! Lastly, whenever she attempts to use Death Lotus, hit her with your Nether Grasp, cancelling her ult!

ssss

Kayle

Kayle

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Her Divine Blessing is annoying as it boosts her movement speed and gives her health back, making harass harder. You can out damage her immediate burst, but be careful when fighting her when her Intervention up. Don't blow your load all at once, watch her for an ultimate and back off. Only engage her when you have at least 30% more HP.

ssss

Kha'zix

Kha'zix

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Usually sent mid to shut down the AP carry, Kha'Zix can be a real pain in the ***. If you stand behind minions, then he can't harass you with his Void Spikes, and his Taste Their Fear will deal substantially less damage than if you were standing alone. You need to keep a close eye on which abilities he evolves; also if he has the audacity to evolve his abilities in the middle of the lane, punish him as he's immobile for a brief time while he transforms. Early game, your combo's much stronger than his and your Nether Grasp can really throw him off, but you need to be extra careful of him late game. He has a tendency to unstealth right next to you, eat you alive, then run away before your teammates can even retaliate. It would be a very good idea for someone on your team to buy a Oracle's Elixir to counter him.

ssss

Kennen

Kennen

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Kennen can be really tricky to deal with because he has a lot of stuns and speed. However for him to combo he has to get close to you. When he charges you, just back off and Flash away from him if he use Slicing Maelstrom and beat him up from a distance. DO NOT STAND IN HIS Slicing Maelstrom! Hide behind your minions so his Thundering Shuriken can't hit you. A large majority of his damage and the beginning of his combo comes from you being hit by his Q, but that can only happen if you are in the open. Avoid getting a Q, kill his damage. If he does rush up to you, try and kite him. Distance is your friend, slows and stuns are your... SUPAH best friends!

ssss

LeBlanc

LeBlanc

Mirror Image

Sigil of Silence

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

LeBlanc's burst is stupidly strong, but if you can live through her burst she is dead in the water. Try at all costs to dodge her Distortion and her Ethereal Chains. If you don't get snared and can live through her silence you can eat her alive. Be careful when she gets low, as her passive will momentarily make her invincible, and be sure to target the real LeBlanc and not her clone.

ssss

Lux

Lux

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Lux is a champion with a very strong early game, though if you can shut her down early, she won't be much of a threat. Play real safe and don't let her free kill you. All of her abilities are long cooldown skill shots, so if you can dodge her Light Binding and/or Lucent Singularity you will win most of the trades. She is a high range caster, and will be spend most of the day trying to harass you from afar. If she burns her abilities, don't waste the opportunity; close the distance with Flash or Ghost and burst her down.

ssss

Malzahar

Malzahar

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Your evil doppelgänger, Malzahar v2 can deal some serious burst damage with his Nether Grasp, especially if it's cast on top of his Null Zone, since it deals health % damage. His Malefic Visions are very strong for farming and harass. Never get close to a minion with visions, because if it dies you will get it. Stay far away and wear him down gradually, and try not to engage in a 1v1 if you know his ultimate is up; chances are, you will most likely lose if you do. If you can survive his combo though, there's not much he can do since all his abilities have fairly long cooldowns.

ssss

Mordekaiser

Mordekaiser

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Mordekaiser has a short range but his passive, Iron Man, can actually block a ridiculous amount of damage, especially when combined with his Creeping Death. Your best bet is to only hit him when his shield is down, and be careful when his ult is up; he will steal a lot of your HP with it. Try and kite him if you can, which is easier said than done. His shield is charged based on how much damage he does, so if he hits a whole minion wave he will get a lot more than if he hit one wraith. Therefore harass him before he can use his skills on the wave, not after.

ssss

Morgana

Morgana

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Morgana is not a hard lane, though if you make mistakes you will pay for them with your life. She will try to land her Dark Binding on you, so just hide behind your minions. If you try to burst her down, she will pop her Black Shield (which cancels your ult's suppress), so the best thing to do is farm farm farm. And after that farm some more. In the mean while, try to zone her with your Call of the Void. Call for ganks often but whatever you, don't get her fed! I would highly recommend a Quicksilver Sash against her since it counters her Dark Binding and Soul Shackles, several limiting her damage.

ssss

Nidalee

Nidalee

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

It's really important to punish Nidalee from levels 1-5. Try to spam your Call of the Void and Malefic Visions, though don't burn all of your mana. It's also important to push up the lane a lot, as though this will leave you susceptible to ganks, there's nothing a Nidalee can do really do aid a jungler gank pre-6, so you should be fairly safe if you buy wards. Nidalee isn't good at last hitting at the tower, unless it's a very good player, in which case they'll still miss a few last hits. After level 6 you need to play extremely cautiously because she can punish you with Aspect Of The Cougar, maybe even kill you with 1 burst and a Javelin Toss. The two most important things is to force her to burn her mana for heals, and to avoid her Javelin Tossat all costs.

ss

Magnificent Mid Lane Match Up's O-Z

ss

Orianna

Orianna

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Truth be told, I haven't seen Orianna too much, so my information might be slightly off. Don't get to close to her, and remember that the ball can deal damage when it passes through you, so don't stand in her general direction with the ball behind you. If she casts Command: Shockwave, it's likely that a immediate gank is incoming. Like Lux, this lane will largely come down to the skill of the Orianna player. If you want to bully her out of lane, her Command: Protect can negate a large chunk of your damage, and she can very easily harass you whenever you attempt to farm with Malefic Visions. Additionally, her Command: Shockwave can easily disrupt your ult assuming it's not her you ulted.

ssss

Ryze

Ryze

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Ryze is a weak early game champ, and you need to take advantage of it. Zone him hard with Call of the Void and Malefic Visions to deny him farm, though don't burn all of your mana! After level 6 things get a little different but you'll remain in front. Keep the harass and go for the kill when you're sure you'll get it. One thing you do not want is a fed late game Ryze.

ssss

Swain

Swain

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Swain's lane sustain is killer at level 6, so burst is your best friend. Don't get snared in his Nevermove and try not to stand near him when he casts Ravenous Flock, since he will just heal back most of the damage you deal, while your own health is slowly whittled away! If you get caught in his Nevermove, chances are you're gonna die. If you Ignite him early on in a fight, it will severely negate a large chunk of health he can heal back with Ravenous Flock.

ssss

Talon

Talon

mercy

cutthroat

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Talon is one of the hardest lanes you can get with Malzahar, or any mage for that matter. He's a high mobility burst assassin with a blink/dash that silences you. This alone will make your lane annoyingly hard. Try to zone him with Malefic Visions but always stay out of range of Cutthroat. Try to rush an early Seeker's Armguard because it will offer a brief reprieve from his burst and can be built into a Zhonya's Hourglass. Try to push the minion wave and then go for ganks, or stay in lane and ask your jungler for a gank.

ssss

Twisted Fate

Twisted Fate

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

His Wild Cards is very easy to dodge, and until he gets Lich Bane and some attack speed his damage is not very good. If he has his yellow card primed be prepared for a Flash stun gank. Announce when he hits 6 so no one yells at you for not calling mia if he teleports to their lane.

ssss

Veigar

Veigar

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

His early game is just bad, and until 6 he deals little damage. Your primary goal in this lane to prevent him from farming up his Baleful Strike, with killing him coming second. It's very important to stack magic resist against Veigar since his Primordial Burst will use your AP against you. If he stuns with his Event Horizon you're pretty much screwed if he has a Rabadon's Deathcap, so yah... don't get stunned =D

ssss

Vlad

Vlad

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Your best bet against Vlad is actually your Null Zone, since Vlad relies on stacking health, though by no means should you prioritize maxing it. He can heal through a lot of your harass and dodge your spells with his Sanguine Pool. Ignite and range are your best friends, so use both of them to your advantage. Though his Hemoplague does a rather small amount of damage in and of itself, it amplifies all his damage against you, so if he casts it on you try to get away with Flash or Ghost to avoid most of his ensuing burst. I would highly recommend not attempting to tower dive him even when he has low health, on account of his Sanguine Pool.

ssss

Xerath

Xerath

Ascended Form

Locus of PowerMage Chains

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

The definition of a poker. Pre-six, he will mostly try to farm with Arcanopulse and harass you. Post level six, if he uses his Mage Chains, you can't dodge his ult, but you may be able to dodge 1 or even 2 if you are lucky. Excluding his Mage Chains, he is 100% skillshots so if you are good at dodging (or, most likely, he is a bad shot) the lane is yours. He has range on you, so you might as well poke him and try to dodge his burst. Remember that both his Arcanopulse and Arcane Barrage indicate where they are going to hit.

ssss

Zed

Zed

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

One of the newest additions to the League, Zed should be considered much the same as Talon. He uses energy instead of mana, so he's going to probably spam his Razor Shuriken all day. Try to move erratically and unpredictably around him. You CAN try to kite him, but he has a deceptive amount of range when his Razor Shuriken is combined with his Living Shadow, and he has a strong slow also. If he casts Death Mark on you, quickly Flash away to avoid the brunt of his attack, as much of the damage from it comes from the repercussions of his other attacks on you.

ssss

Ziggs

Ziggs

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Ziggs kit is entirely based around skill shots, so try to keep your distance and move around hectically and unpredictably. If you engage him, he can burst you down or instead escape with a Satchel Charge + Hexplosive Minefield combo. If he gets you low, it's important to watch out for his Mega Inferno Bomb. You should generally save your Flash to avoid the majority of his retaliation.

ssss

Zyra

Zyra

Deadly Bloom

DIFFICULTY

GAMEPLAY

Zyra is an very powerful mid, with both a strong burst and lane presence. Try to avoid getting rooted by her Grasping Roots, but if you do (assuming you have equal gold and hp) you should win the engagement. Poke her a lot, out damage her, watch for roots. They are very slow, so it's relatively easy to dodge them. Finally, don't fight near her plants. They account for half of her damage. If you get caught in her Stranglethorns, then you're gonna have a bad time!

ss

Sufficient Summary

s

Thank you for reading my guide! I hope you enjoyed it, and that it will help you in your future endeavours. If you liked it, remember to leave a upvote! If you found something you disagreed with or didn't like, I'd appreciate it if you left your complaint in the Discussion section instead of just downvoting my guide over one thing; I'm always looking for ways to further improve my guide. Extra credit to Saiberblode/Drygon for providing the awesome videos!